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Romanian PM, president pledge no insults

(AP) BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania’s prime minister and president have agreed to set aside their bitter rivalry for the good of the country and to stop insulting each other.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Wednesday that he and President Traian Basescu signed an agreement to cooperate last week after Ponta’s center-left alliance won 68 percent of seats in Dec. 9 parliamentary elections.

Basescu’s office said the president had handed the seven-point agreement outlining "institutional collaboration" between the prime minister and the president to European Union leaders last week during a trip to Brussels.

The enmity between the two men had poisoned the political atmosphere in Romania for months and EU leaders had voiced concern there could be more political feuding after the elections.

Before the election, Basescu had said he would be reluctant to reappoint Ponta as premier, calling him `’a pig" and `’a compulsive liar." However, Basescu relented and asked Ponta on Monday to form a new government.

The Mediafax news agency quoted Ponta as saying `’we won’t call each other names and we won’t use comparisons to the animal kingdom."

The agreement signed on Dec. 11 at the Cotroceni presidential palace was published later Wednesday.

Its purpose was "to maintain political stability, and to ensure a functioning climate at an institutional level, good governance and winning back the confidence of international markets," adding that both the government and the president will "respect their constitutional attributions."

In the agreement, Ponta and Basescu pledge to sanction politicians "for going beyond the rules of good behavior, good manners, decency and politeness," adding that politicians will avoid "tough expressions, attacks of any kind."

Romania is committed to NATO, the EU and a strategic alliance with the United States., the agreement says.

Ponta has named his Cabinet of 20 ministers with three deputy prime ministers, some of whom will retain their current posts. Parliament is expected to approve the makeup of the government on Friday.